Asset Planning, Inc Blog

The latest from the team.

What Happens to Your Social Media & Online Accounts When You Die?

Until very recently there was really no estate planning direction on how your social media and online accounts should be handled after you pass away. If you're like me, I have multiple social media accounts and have opted to go paperless on every account that I can. Though this is the most convenient option for us now it may pose a problem when you pass away and there are no instructions or information left for your loved ones. I recently listened to a webinar hosted by TLD Law that gave out some great information and tips on how these digital assets should be handled.

First, we'll talk about what digital assets really are. Digital assets are considered any electronic record that is stored in an online account, not the online account itself. For example: You have a Gmail account, the Gmail account and address are not considered a digital asset. The digital assets would be any emails, pictures or other files in the email account.

Here are some other examples of digital assets:

Airplane Miles, Social Media, Software Licenses, Websites, Cryptocurrencies and any other digital file stored with in an online account or your computer; think Shutterfly, iCloud etc.

One quick way to ensure that your digital assets are taken care of after you die is buy completing a Power of Attorney specifically for those digital assets. The Power of Attorney should have a digital assets provision in it.

If you have a trust in place you should check it to see if there is a provision for digital assets. If the trust document was drafted before 2017 it likely does not, and you will need to amend the trust accordingly.

In the trust and power of attorney documents you should give clear instructions on how you would like your digital assets taken care of when you pass away.

By law, anyone you give this responsibility to will have a fiduciary duty of care, loyalty and confidentiality to uphold. What that means is that they are not allowed to share any personal information that has not already been made public.

A lot of online sites have either legacy contact information or inactive user account manager options that you can set up in your account profiles. Whoever you designate will be contacted after a certain length of time, usually chosen by you, where your account has not been active.

It's important to note that by giving some power of attorney over your digital assets, the companies that hold that information are not legally required to give them access to the online accounts. It is very important to compile an ongoing list of all of your online accounts as well as passwords and keep it in a safe place that your trusted person knows about. Downloading this information onto a hard drive and keeping it in a safety deposit box or fireproof safe are a couple of options. If you simply just give someone this information without the proper legal documents their attempt to log into your account may be misconstrued as computer fraud and may be prosecuted. Especially in the case of elderly parents or grandparents, because there is a heightened awareness of elderly abuse.

There is a ton more information and tips online. I highly encourage you to do some research and get these provisions in place.

 

 

 

 

Continue reading
  1369 Hits

Do You Have a Plan for Your Aging Parents?

It’s a known fact that people are living a lot longer than they used to. Do you have a plan in place for your aging parents? I came across an interesting article in Financial Advisor Magazine about the toll being a care taker for your aging parents can put on you financially and emotionally. If you are facing the prospect of being the caretaker for your parents as they get older, the time is now to start having the important conversations with your family about getting an action plan together for their care.

Click here to read the full article

 

 

 

Continue reading
  1434 Hits

Looking for Ways to Donate and Get a Tax Break?

Many times we are asked by our clients about ways they can give back through planned gifting. In our last quarterly newsletter, Carol explained how you can donate part or all of your mandatory IRA distributions (RMD) to a charity of your choice which also reduces your taxable income for the year. Another way of doing this is by setting up a charitable annuity. The way it works is the donor gives a gift to the charity (amounts vary), the donor receives fixed payments for life and the donor is entitled to a federal income tax deduction the year the gift is made. I have included a link to one that is offered through the ASPCA to use as an example but there are many more out there to suit everyone’s unique philanthropic wishes.

https://www.aspca.org/ways-to-give/planned-giving

Continue reading
  1702 Hits

Emergency Information Folder

We talk to clients everyday about how important estate planning is and how they should have a trust in place to ensure that their wishes are met after they pass away or become incapacitated. While having a trust set up is great it doesn’t really provide all of the details necessary for a spouse or loved one to take care of the day to day tasks of wrapping up your affairs. It is a really good idea to create an information folder that provides the pertinent details such as account numbers and passwords. This is also valuable to have in case of an emergency such as a car accident or house fire. You can grab this folder and go. Here is a list of information you should have in the folder.

• Assets: checking and investment accounts, private business interests, location of safety deposit boxes, annuities, individual retirement accounts and 401(k)s, trust agreements, real estate, vehicles, collectibles

• Liabilities: credit cards, mortgages, car payments, cell phone bills, other recurring bills • Social media/online accounts: passwords and login information for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Amazon, PayPal, eBay, Netflix, Hulu, iCloud or other cloud storage accounts, online photo storage accounts

• Miscellaneous subscriptions/memberships: airline rewards programs, Sam’s, BJ’s or Costco memberships, toll tag accounts, magazines, newspapers • Insurance: life insurance, long-term care, disability, home, auto

• Home maintenance: water, gas, electricity, telephone, alarm, lawn care, cable television, Internet service • Medical: medical conditions, medications, emergency contacts

• Personal: burial/cremation preferences, funeral plans, pre-paid funeral expenses, birth certificates, marriage certificates, Social Security card

• Key contacts: financial and legal advisors, doctors, family members, close friends

Each person’s folder will require different information but this is a good start and you can customize it as needed. It also may be a good idea to keep a copy of this information in a folder in your email account, that way you only need to have one password to give out and everything is backed up by the cloud.

(This list was compiled from an article on wealthmanagement.com)

Continue reading
  2018 Hits

Top Reasons to Set Up a Living Trust

 

Even if you are not super wealthy there are many benefits to setting up a living trust. A living trust is a document set up by an estate attorney to help you manage your assets, including property while you are alive and names a trustee to act on your behalf to carry out your instructions, if you become incapable of caring for yourself or pass away. Here are a few of the top reasons why you should set up a trust.

Avoids Probate- A trust allows your heirs to bypass probate which can be a lengthy process and your estate can be charged up to 5% in probate fees. This can mean a substantial savings in time, legal fees and paperwork.

Protection Against Disputes- Unfortunately there may be someone who is unhappy with the way you have instructed to have your assets distributed. A trust is harder to contest than a will is because they have to be able to prove that you were under undue pressure or influence in setting up the trust which is nearly impossible.

Flexibility- Trusts offer more flexibility in how you can distribute the funds. In the case where you may have minor children you can specify how the money is spent and when they would have full rights to the funds.

Avoids Estate Taxes- A trust can provide a way to avoid or reduce estate taxes because assets and property placed into a trust are not subject to these taxes.

Minimizes Family Conflicts- You can specifically detail exact items and monetary distributions to be given to each beneficiary. This helps to curtail any of the “who gets what” problems that may arise with family members.

Privacy- Trusts, unlike wills, are private because they do not go through probate. This means your assets and who you leave them to are kept private.

Continue reading
  2130 Hits
Tags:

Search Blogs Module

Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar
illiegal robocallers items account numbers retirement plans Coronavirus Aid Medicare plan IRS checklists https :// September 30 2020. EEChecklist-Kits.pdf stockpilingchecklist.pdf media accounts self-help topics health care costs privacy notices increase paper records Medicare question Labor Day CFP ® earnings fallout Economic Security information April 18 2017. home emergency preparedness kits Shred paperwork 23 andme wells Fargo parking spots phishing scams portal credit freeze fees tax returns earthquake app Asset Planning July 3 rd Wells Fargo customers Erin Nelsen markets bottom line fun facts Affordable Care Act interest rates April 11 donation items donation counts phone companies Kraig Mathias flash drive Medicare Part B premiums breach “ skimmer ”. emergency folder Open Enrollment Retirement Contribution Limits 900 number September 9 2017 IRA contributions official certification phishing sites VOIP landline phones July 6 70 1/2. Independence Day notary services toilet paper life saver insurance policy Healthcare tax deadline National Ice Cream month Kiplinger Letter Supplemental Security Income trustee text messages Two-Step Verification house sitter credit cards credit score cell phone service provider July 4 money president Trump home operations manager debt 2017 TD Ameritrade National LINC Conference email notifications cell phone SIM swap scam tax deadlines chip-enabled EMV cards banking blog post credit card fraud borrowing money records home mortgages California Lions Friends trust 2017 Equifax breach Brexit vote years IRS deadline cell phone carriers offer family members Federal Trade Commission website Flexible Spending Account jury duty insurance policies team members holidays approach identity theft executive order Orange County birth certificates water … pet supplies 2018 IRA contributions student loans settlement options Orange County Superior Court CARES Act cell phone carriers asset Planning home emergency kit CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER exam policy Auto insurance TD Ameritrade news coverage Financial Planning Magazine vacation June 29 app company FEMA website car loans Notary Public people medications retirement accounts clients tax filing deadlines Roth IRA paperwork clutter stock pile health care services retirement interest 401K Wells Fargo employees estate planning direction non-prescripstion sunglasses client portal CA FTB offering insurance pets summer clone counterfeits Social Security October 1 2020. check lists September 8 contribution limit identity thieves fun atmosphere coronavirus stimulus package Fox News story 20 year anniversary web address July weekend ID card gap insurance tax records opt-out emergency kit driver license payments April 15 Legal robocalls spread investment statements IRA accounts prescription eyeglasses credit monitoring service COVID -19 virus Medicare pet spring cleaning cell phone provider Social Security Administration Part D premiums . credit card company memorial Day weekend ice cream event D premiums market turmoil hurricane Dorian Medicare Advantage February 14 home break-ins documents Victor Dergunov privacy settings Open House partner /owner Puerto Rico drive /usb retirement planning disaster areas tax season cell phones Part B Ice Cream Social Charles Schwab relief efforts home security information Facebook Joey Gonzales integral member business hours https ://seekingalpha emergency kits Mobile Banking Security Tips Medicare Part B Treasury Department card reader consumer spending Amazon assets vision screening 4 pm -8pm DNA test kits Expired medications pet donation drive clients show support ice cream rescue organizations FSA scams padlock Facebook profile estate planning pet industry January 10 phone estate spam phone